History Department

The History Department at Drew is devoted to providing its students excellent instruction in the interpretation of human experience in the past. Drew offers a broad range of courses in American, European and global history. Together, we ask: were the main tensions, problems, movements, developments at any given point? Who were the primary actors or agents, whether individuals, institutions, social classes, or other groups? What were the prevailing relations of social, political, and economic power, and how and why might these have shifted over time? More broadly, how and why does historical change happen?

Our students learn to do history itself: to locate evidence; develop original arguments in response to the views of others; and use evidence to support one’s own interpretation of the past. It is our great hope that our students continue to draw on modes of historical reasoning and research whatever they may do in life after graduation.